SEYMOUR  DURST 


-t '  'Fort  nieutv  ^irnflerdam-  of  Je  JAanhatarus 


"When  you  leave,  please  leave  this  book 

Because  it  has  been  said 
"Ever'thing  comes  t'  him  who  waits 

Except  a  loaned  book." 


oyt  ^sa^     Box  *3 


Avery  Architectural  and  Fine  Arts  Library 
Gift  of  Seymour  B.  Durst  Old  York  Library 


was  the  Drama  Introduced  in  America  ? 


AN  HISTORICAL  INQUIRY, 


ANTERIOR  TO  DUNLAFS  HISTORY 


OF  THE 


AMERICAN  THEATRE. 


READ    BEFORE  THE 


NEW  YORK  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY, 


November   3d,  1863. 


By  CHARLES  P.  DALY,  LL.D. 


NEW  YORK : 

Wm.  C.  Bryant  &  Co.,  Pointers,  41  Nassau  Street,  cor.  Liberty. 

1864. 


WHEN  WAS  THE  DRAMA  INTRODUCED  IN  AMERICA? 


Dunlap,  the  historian  of  the  American  Stage,  informs  us  that 
the  drama  was  introduced  in  this  country  by  William  Hallam, 
the  successor  of  Garrick,  in  Goodman's  Fields  Theatre,  who  form- 
ed a  joint  stock  company  and  sent  them  to  America  under  the 
management  of  his  brother  Lewis  Hallam,  in  the  year  1752,  and 
that  the  first  play  ever  acted  in  America  was  the  "  Merchant 
of  Venice,"  represented  by  this  company  on  the  5th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1752,  at  "Williamsburg,  then  the  capital  of  Virginia,  in  an 
old  store  house  which  they  converted  into  a  theatre  within  two 
months  after  their  arrival  at  Yorktown.  Dunlap's  familiarity 
with  the  subject,  the  fact  that  he  derived  his  information  from 
Lewis  Hallam,  Jr.,  who  came  out  a  boy  twelve  years  of  age  with 
this  early  company,  and  the  circumstance  that  in  Burke's  His- 
tory of  Virginia  the  same  statement  is  found,  has  been  deemed 
sufficiently  satisfactory,  and  "William  Hallam,  whom  Dunlap 
calls  u  The  Father  of  the  American  stage,"  has  been  accepted 
as  the  person  who  first  introduced  the  theatre  in  America. 

THE  FIRST  THEATRE  IN  NEW  YORK. 

But  Dunlap  and  those  upon  whom  he  relied  were  mistaken, 
for  there  was  a  theatre  in  the  city  of  Xew  York  in  1733,  nine- 
teen  years  before  Hallam  arrived  in  this  country.  It  is  mentioned 
in  Bradford Js  Gazette  of  that  year,  in  the  advertisement  of  a 
merchant  who  directs  inquiries  to  be  made  of  him  at  his  store 
"  next  door  to  the  Play  House."  This  reference  is  all  that  has 
been  found  respecting  it ;  but  in  the  month  of  February,  1750, 
more  than  two  years  before  the  arrival  of  Hallam,  a  regular 


4- 


company  of  actors,  under  tlie  joint  management  of  Thomas  Kean 
and  of  a  Mr.  Murray,  came  to  this  city  from  Philadelphia,  and 
applied  to  Admiral  George  Clinton,  then  the  Governor  of  the 
Province  of  New  York,  for  permission  to  act.  Governor  Clinton 
was  a  man  of  rank,  the  son  of  an  Earl,  and  had  previously  held 
a  distinguished  position  as  commander  of  the  English  fleet  in  the 
Mediterranean,  while  his  wife,  Lady  Clinton,  was  a  woman  of 
great  personal  attractions  and  very  agreeable  manners,  who  had 
moved  in  the  first  circles  of  London  society.  To  these  cultivated 
persons  there  was  nothing  objectionable  in  the  establishment  of 
a  theatre,  and  permission  was  accordingly  granted,  though,  from 
the  spirit  afterwards  exhibited  by  the  local  magistrates  in  this 
and  other  places,  it  would  probably  have  been  refused  had  the 
city  authorities  been  applied  to.  It  was  announced  through  the 
columns  of  the  Weekly  Post  Boy  that  the  company  intended  to 
perform  as  long  as  the  season  lasted,  provided  they  met  with 
suitable  encouragement,  and  upon  obtaining  the  consent  of  the 
governor,  they  hired  a  large  room  in  a  building  in  Nassau  street, 
belonging  to  the  estate  of  Rip  Van  Dam,  formerly  president  of 
the  Provincial  Council,  and  converted  it  into  a  theatre;  and 
here,  on  the  5th  of  March,  1750,  they  produced  Shakespeare's 
historical  play  of  "  Richard  III.,"  as  altered  by  Colley  Cibber, 
in  which  the  part  of  Richard  was  performed  by  Mr.  Ivean.  The 
performance  was  announced  to  begin  precisely  at  half-past  six 
o'clock,  and  the  public  were  informed  that  no  person  would  be 
admitted  behind  the  scenes — an  important  reform,  as  it  had  been 
the  practice  in  London  from  Shakespeare's  time  to  allow  the  pur- 
chasers of  box  tickets  free  access  to  the  staore  :  a  custom  which 
led  to  many  abuses  and  immoralities. 


CAPACITY  OF  THIS  THEATRE. 


The  room  which  had  been  converted  into  a  theatre  must  have 
been  a  very  capacious  one,  as  it  was  arranged  with  pit  and  gal- 
lery, and  afterwards  boxes  were  added.  The  price  of  admission 
to  the  boxes  was  eight  shillings,  to  the  pit  five  shillings,  and  to 
the  gallery  three  shillings*  The  exact  capacity  of  this  theatre  is 
known  from  the  following  circumstances.  Upon  the  occasion 
of  Mr.  Kean's  benefit,  who  was  the  leading  tragedian,  he  was 


5 


honored  by  a  crowded  house  in  his  favorite  part  of  Richard  III., 
and  great  complaint  having  been  made  that  more  tickets  had 
been  sold  than  the  house  could  hold,  Kean  published  a  card  in 
the  Post  Boy,  which  was  accompanied  by  a  certificate  of  Parker, 
the  publisher,  to  the  effect  that  he  had  printed  in  all  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty-one  pit  tickets,  ten  box,  and  one  hundred  and 
twenty-one  gallery  tickets,  declaring  that  as  great  a  number  had 
been  in  the  house  before.  Kean,  in  his  card  informs  the  public 
that  it  had  been  determined  not  to  receive  any  money  at  the 
door,  but  that  it  was  impossible  to  carry  ont  that  intention  with- 
out giving  great  offence,  and  that  the  purchasers  of  tickets  who 
had  come  after  the  house  was  filled  had  had  their  money  re- 
turned. It  may  be  inferred  from  this  circumstance  that  the 
players  found  "  satisfactory  encouragement."  "  Richard  III." 
appears  to  have  been  a  favorite  piece,  and  on  the  12th  of  March, 
1750,  it  was  announced  that  it  would  be  acted  for  the  last  time, 
together  with  the  farce  of  the  "  Beau  in  the  Suds,"  and  that  on 
the  following  Saturday,  Dryden's  play  of  the  "  Spanish  Friar  " 
would  be  represented.  They  continued  to  play  on  Monday, 
Wednesday,  and  Saturday,  from  the  5th  of  March  to  the  30th 
of  April,  1750,  when  the  season  closed,  and  that  the  experiment 
was  successful  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  they  opened 
the  theatre  again  for  another  season  on  the  30th  of  December, 
1750,  and  continued  to  play  three  times  a  week  until  the  8th 
of  July,  1751,  closing  with  a  succession  of  benefits,  when  the 
company,  or  the  chief  part  of  them,  went  to  Virginia. 


CHANGE  OF  MANAGEMENT. 


Before  the  close  of  the  season,  Kean,  the  joint-manager,  with- 
drew ;  announcing  in  a  formal  card  to  the  public  that  he  had 
resolved  to  quit  the  stage,  by  the  advice  of  several  gentlemen  in 
town  who  were  his  friends,  and  follow  his  employment  of 
writing ;  that  his  co-manager,  Mr.  Murray,  had  agreed  to  give 
him  a  night  clear  of  all  expenses  for  his  half  of  the  clothes  and 
scenery  of  the  play-house,  and  that  by  his  Excellency  the  Gover- 
nor's permission,  he  would,  on  the  following  Monday  evening, 
enact  the  part  of  King  Richard  III.  for  his  benefit,  being  the 
last  time  of  his  appearance  upon  the  stage,    On  the  Monday 


6 


following,  April  29,  1751,  the  performance  for  his  benefit  was 
changed  to  the  "  Busy  Body  "  and  the  "  Virgin  Unmasked," 
and  in  announcing  the  change  he  informs  the  public,  as  an  ad- 
ditional attraction,  that  there  will  be  singing  by  Mr.  Woodham, 
and  particularly  the  celebrated  ode  called  "  Britons'  Charter," 
closing  with  this  appeal :  "  As  this  will  positively  be  the  last 
time  of  Mr.  Kean's  appearing  upon  the  stage,  he  honestly  hopes 
all  gentlemen  and  ladies,  and  others  who  are  his  well  wishers, 
will  be  so  kind  as  to  favor  him  with  their  company." 

PLAYS  PRODUCED. 

How  this  company  were  collected,  or  where  they  originally 
came  from,  it  is  probably  now  no  longer  possible  to  ascertain. 
As  they  were  announced,  upon  their  first  appearance  in  ]STew 
York,  as  a  company  of  comedians  who  had  come  from  Philadel- 
phia, it  is  highly  probable  that  they  had  played  before  in  the 
southern  cities,  and  that  they  came  originally  from  the  West 
Indies,  where,  especially  in  Jamaica,  theatrical  companies  from 
England  had  been  in  the  habit  of  performing  for  some  years  pre- 
viously. During  the  two  seasons  of  the  company  in  New  York, 
the  following  plays  were  given:  "Richard  III.,"  Otway's 
"  Orphan,"  Dryden's  "  Spanish  Friar,"  Farquahr's  "  Sir  Harry 
Wildair,"  "  Recruiting  Officer,"  and  "  Beau's  Strategem," 
"  George  Barnwell,"  "  The  Beggar's  Opera,"  "  The  Distressed 
Mother,"  Congreve's  "  Love  for  Love,"  and  the  "  Bold  Stroke 
for  a  Wife,"  with  the  following  farces :  "  The  Beaux  in  the 
Suds,"  "  The  Mock  Doctor,"  "  The  Devil  to  Pay,"  "  The 
Walking  Statue,"  "  The  Old  Man  Taught  Wisdom,"  "Damon 
and  Phillida,"  "Hob  in  the  Well,"  and  "Miss  in  Her  Teens." 
The  names  of  the  dramatis  personal  were  not  printed  in  the 
play  bills,  for  the  reason,  probably,  that  the  same  actor  had 
to  play  different  parts  in  the  same  piece  ;  but,  from  references 
made  to  individual  performers,  the  following  persons  are 
known  to  have  been  members  of  the  company :  Kean  and 
Murray,  the  joint  managers ;  Messrs.  Taylor,  Woodham,  Tre- 
main,  Jago,  Scott,  Moore,  Smith,  Marks,  and  Master  Dickey 
Murray,  the  manager's  son ;  Miss  Nancy  George,  Miss  Osborne, 
Mrs.  Taylor,  Mrs.  Davis,  and  Mrs.  Osborne.    Kean,  Tremain 


7 


and  Jago,  played  in  tragic  parts.  Murray  and  Taylor  were 
comedians.    Miss  Nancy  George  and  Miss  Osborne  were  the 

chief  ladies  in  comedy  and  tragedy.  Woodham  and  Mrs.  Taylor 
were  comedians  and  vocalists,  and  Kean,  like  his  more  distin- 
guished namesake,  Edmund  Kean,  appears  to  have  possessed 
some  musical  talent,  for  on  the  occasion  of  his  first  benefit,  he 
announces  that  he  will  sing  "  an  oratorio?  Master  Dickey 
Murray  appears  to  have  been  a  favorite  with  the  public ;  the 
other  actors  performed  in  subordinate  parts. 

CUEIOES  ANNOUNCEMENTS. 

During  the  second  season,  which  lasted  for  six  months,  they 
had  repeated  the  same  plays  many  times,  and  probably,  having 
nothing  new  or  more  attractive  to  offer  for  another  season,  they 
determined  to  try  their  fortunes  elsewhere.  They  closed  with  a 
series  of  benefits,  and  some  of  the  appeals  made  respecting  them 
are  sufficiently  curious  to  be  noticed.  Mrs.  Davis  announces 
that  a  benefit  is  given  to  her  to  enable  her  to  buy  off  her  time, 
and  she  hopes  that  all  ladies  and  gentlemen  who  are  charitably 
inclined  will  favor  it,  closing  in  legal  phraseology,  "  and  their 
humble  petitioner,  as  in  duty  bound,  will  ever  pray."  It  was 
the  constant  practice  at  that  time,  for  masters  of  vessels  to  bring 
out  passengers  to  New  York,  upon  the  condition  that  they  should 
be  sold  immediately  upon  their  arrival  as  servants  to  any  person 
who  would  pay  their  passage  money.  They  were  sold  for  a 
definite  period  of  time,  and  were  called  Redemptors,  a  class  of 
which  Mrs.  Davis,  from  her  earnest  appeal,  appears  to  have  been 
one.  Mr.  Jago  humbly  begs  that  all  gentlemen  and  ladies  will 
be  so  kind  as  to  favor  him  with  their  company,  as  he  never  had 
a  benefit  before  and  is  just  come  out  of  prison  y  and  Mrs.  Osborne 
appropriately  selects  the  play  of  "  The  Distressed  Mother,"  with 
the  announcement  that  it  is  the  first  time  this  poor  widow 
has  had  a  benefit,  and  having  met  with  divers  late  hardships 
and  misfortunes  she  appeals  to  the  benevolent  and  others. 

It  is  stated  in  Clapp's  Records  of  the  Boston  Stage,  that 
Otway's  "  Orphan  "  was  played  in  Boston,  in  the  Coffee  House 
in  State  street,  in  the  early  part  of  1750,  by  two  young  English- 
men, assisted  by  some  volunteer  comrades  of  the  town ;  and  as 


8 


this  is  about  the  period  when  Kean  and  Murray's  company 
began  to  perform  in  New  York,  it  may  possibly  have  been 
an  initiatory  attempt  on  the  part  of  some  of  the  members  of 
that  company  to  introduce  dramatic  amusements  among  the 
people  of  New  England.  It  was  immediately  followed  by  the 
passage  of  an  act  by  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts,  in 
March,  1750,  prohibiting  all  stage  plays  and  theatrical  enter- 
tainments of  any  kind. 

A  NEW  COMPANY  IN  1751. 

In  the  winter  of  1751  another  company,  under  the  manage- 
ment of  Robert  Upton,  opened  the  theatre  in  Nassau  street  on 
the  23d  of  December,  1751,  with  "  Othello,"  and  the  farce  of 
r  Lethe."  According  to  a  public  statement  which  Lewis  Hal- 
lam,  Sen ,  made  afterwards,  and  with  which  Dunlap  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  acquainted,  Upton  was  sent  to  New  York 
in  October,  1750,  by  William  Hallam,  to  obtain  permission  to 
erect  a  theatre  and  make  all  necessary  arrangements  before  the 
arrival  of  a  company  of  comedians  which  Hallam  was  preparing 
to  send  out.  Hallam  had  been  at  a  very  heavy  expense  in  en- 
gaging actors  and  in  procuring  scenery  and  dresses,  and  had 
supplied  Upton  with  a  considerable  sum  of  money  to  accomplish 
the  purpose  for  which  he  was  sent.  But,  says  the  statement, 
Upton,  upon  his  arrival  in  New  York,  joined  a  lot  of  pretenders 
whom  he  found  there,  paid  no  artention  to  the  business  on  which 
he  was  dispatched,  and  nothing  further  was  heard  from  him. 

There  is  manifestly  an  error  of  a  year  in  this  statement. 
Upton's  name  does  not  appear  among  the  members  of  Kean  & 
Murray's  company,  and  that  he  was  not  in  New  York  during 
the  seasons  of  1750  and  1751,  when  they  performed  there,  is 
conclusively  shown  by  his  own  public  statement  in  January, 
1752 — that  he  was  then  a  stranger  in  the  city,  and  but  im- 
perfectly  informed  respecting  the  principal  inhabitants.  He 
evidently  came  to  New  York  in  the  early  part  of  the  winter  of 
1751;  and  finding  a  theatre  already  existing  and  unoccupied, 
determined  to  seize  the  opportunity  of  becoming  a  manager 
himself;  and  getting  a  company  together — two  of  whom,  Tre- 
maine  and  the  widow  Osborne,  had  been  members  of  the  pre- 


ceding  one — he  opened  the  theatre  in  Nassau  street  in  Decem- 
ber, 1751,  as  before  stated. 

The  new  company  were  either  inferior  to  the  former,  or 
the  public  had  become  indifferent,  for  Upton,  after  a  perform- 
ance of  three  weeks,  announced,  that  to  his  great  disappoint- 
ment, he  had  not  met  with  encouragement  enough  to  support 
the  company  for  the  season,  and  that  he  would  bring  it  to  an 
end  by  giving  a  few  benefits.  Some  doubt  of  the  merits  of 
the  new  performers  seems  to  have  prevailed,  as  he  assured  the 
public  in  a  card,  that  the  company  ''were  perfect,  and  hope  to 
perform  to  satisfaction."  It  was  the  custom  then,  for  the  actors 
to  wait  upon  all  the  principal  inhabitants  and  solicit  their  pa- 
tronage ;  and  fearing  that  he  had  been  held  accountable  for  some 
remissness  of  duty  in  this  particular,  he  begs  the  public  to  re- 
member that  "he  is  an  absolute  stranger  in  the  city,  and  if,  in 
his  application,  he  has  omitted  any  gentlemen  or  ladies' house  or 
lodging,  he  humbly  hopes  that  they  will  impute  it  to  his  want  of 
information,  and  not  to  a  want  of  respect.''  But  though  he  pro- 
duced several  pieces  not  yet  played  in  Xew  York,  such  as  the 
"  Fair  Penitent,"  "  Venice  Preserved,"  "  The  Provoked  Hus- 
band," and  "  Othello,"  it  was  of  no  avail.  A  few  benefits  were 
given — for  a  Mr.  Leigh,  for  the  widow  Osborne,  and  for  Mr. 
Tremaine — and  on  the  27th  March,  1752,  the  last  performance 
took  place  for  the  benefit  of  Mrs.  Upton,  the  manager's  wife. 
Upton  delivered  a  farewell  epilogue,  and  in  a  few  days  after  he 
left  in  a  vessel  either  for  some  other  part  of  the  colonies  or  for 
London. 

THE  DRAMA  IX  VIRGINIA  AXD  MARYLAND. 

The  prior  company,  after  performing  in  Virginia,  went  to 
Annapolis,  the  capital  of  Maryland,  and  erected  a  small  theatre 
there,  which  they  opened  on  the  22d  of  June,  1752,  with  the 
"Beggar's  Opera,"  and  the  farce  of  the  "  Lying  Valet."  This 
was  a  few  days  before  the  arrival  of  Hallam  and  his  company  in 
Virginia.  Annapolis  was  at  this  period  a  place  of  considerable 
trade  and  commerce,  with  a  thriving  population,  including  many 
wealthy  merchants,  and  beiug  the  capital  of  the  province,  was 
the  residence  of  the  leading  officials,  and  a  general  place  of  re- 
sort for  opulent  planters  and  their  families.    There  was  among 


10 


the  people  a  great  deal  of  refinement  and  cultivation.  They 
were  much  more  disposed  to  enjoy  the  recreation  of  the  theatre 
than  the  mixed  English,  French  and  Dutch  population  of  New 
1  ork,  and,  consequently,  the  theatre  became  there  a  permanent 
institution  for  many  years.  The  company  represented  the 
same  plays  which  they  had  before  acted  in  New  York,  with 
the  addition  of  "  Cato  "  and  the  "Busy  Body"  ;  and  after  play- 
ing for  a  season  they  gave  representations  in  other  parts  of  Mary- 
land—at  Chester,  in  Kent  county ;  at  Upper  Marlborough,  at 
Pisscatoway,  upon  the  western,  and  at  some  other  places  upon 
the  eastern  shore.  Some  new  names  appear  among  the  mem- 
bers, such  as  Eyarson,  Wynell  and  Herbert,  while  many  of  the 
old  members  had  left,  a  circumstance  warranting  the  supposition 
that  there  was  either  another  company  then  performing  in  the 
:  South,  or  that  these  actors  had  returned  to  England  or  to  the 
West  Indies.  Among  the  remaining  members  were  Murray. 
'Scott,  Miss  Osborne,  and  Kean,  who,  despite  his  formal  farewell 
in  New  York,  and  declaration  of  his  intention  to  resume  his 
original  occupation  of  a  writing-master,  was  again  among  them, 
representing  principal  parts. 

Nothing  having  been  heard  from.  Upton,  the  company  formed 
by  William  Hallam  were  kept  waiting  in  London  until  April, 
1752,  when,  making  the  acquaintance  of  a  Captain  Lee,  who  was 
about  to  sail  for  Virginia,  they  took  passage  in  his  vessel,  and 
arrived  at  Yorktown  on  the  28th  of  June,  1752. 

Having  established  themselves  at  Willi amsburgh,  as  before 
stated,  they  continued  there  for  eleven  months,  meeting,  accord- 
ing to  their  own  account,  "  the  greatest  encouragement,  and 
performing  with  universal  applause  "  They  were  then  advised 
to  go  to  New  York.  We  were  told,  says  the  statement  before 
referred  to,  that  a  theatre  already  existed  there ;  that  the  in- 
habitants were  generous  and  polite,  fond  of  rational  diversion — 
particularly  that  of  the  theatre — and  that  we  would  undoubtedly 
meet  with  a  most  favorable  reception.  They  accordingly  left 
for  New  York,  and  arrived  there  in  the  month  of  June,  1753; 
when,  greatly  to  their  surprise  and  disappointment,  they  found 
a  strong  sentiment  prevailing  against  the  theatre,  and  an  indis- 
position on  the  part  of  the  magistrates  to  allow  them  to  act. 
This  led  them  to  print  an  appeal  to  the  public,  in  which  they 
set  forth  the  circumstances  under  which  they  had  come  to  the 


11 


country;  the  ions:  iourney  they  had  made;  the  conduct  of 
Upton  ;  and  the  heavy  expense  they  had  incurred.  They  urged 
that  their  harmless  calling,  instead  of  being  productive  of  any 
injury,  would  prove  to  be  a  public  advantage  and  a  pleasure ; 
that  they  were  not  cast  in  the  same  mould  as  their  theatrical 
predecessors,  either  in  the  habits  of  their  private  life  or  in  their 
public  qualities  ;  that  as  it  was  their  design  to  give  an  elegant 
and  instructive  entertainment,  and  to  support  it  with  proper 
dignity  and  decorum,  they  had  anticipated  a  very  different  re- 
ception, little  imagining  in  a  city  so  polite  as  Xew  York  that 
the  Muses  would  be  banished,  and  that  the  works  of  Shakespeare 
and  of  others — the  pride  of  English  literature — would  be  denied 
admittance.  This  appeal  produced  the  desired  effect.  Public 
•sympathy  became  enlisted  in  their  favor,  the  magistrates  inter- 
posed no  further  objections,  and  Hallam  proceeded  to  take 
measures  for  the  permanent  establishment  of  the  company. 

Finding  the  old  theatre  in  Nassau  street  inadequate  to  his 
purpose,  he  took  the  building  down  and  erected  upon  the 
same  spot  what  the  newspaper  of  the  day,  Parkers  Gazette, 
describes  "  as  a  very  fine,  large  and  commodious  new  theatre/' 
which  he  opened  on  the  17th  of  September,  1753,  with  Steele's 
comedy  of  the  "  Conscious  Lovers  "  and  the  farce  of  "  Damon 
and  PhiHida.*'  Dunlap  says  that  it  was  erected  on  the  spot 
afterwards  occupied  by  the  old  Dutch  church  (the  present  Post- 
office.)  In  this  he  was  also  mistaken,  for  the  church  was  erected 
on  the  place  where  the  building  now  stands  in  1729.  The  thea- 
tre which  Hallam  built,  and  the  one  before  it,  was  on  the  east 
side  of  Xassau  street,  between  Maiden  Lane  and  John  street. 

HALLAm's  NEW  THEATRE  IX  NASSAU  STREET. 

Hallanrs  company  was  far  superior  to  any  that  had  preceded  it. 
Mrs.  Hallam  was  not  only  a  beautiful  woman,  but  she  was  an 
actress  of  no  ordinary  merit.  Dunlap,  in  his  youth,  heard  old 
ladies  speak  in  raptures  of  her  beauty,  grace  and  pathos.  Hallam 
was  himself  an  excellent  comedian,  and  two  other  members  of 
the  company,  Pigby  and  Malone,  were  actors  of  established  rep- 
utation upon  the  London  boards.  The  arrival  of  a  complete 
company  like  this,  who  were  not  only  practised  in  their  art  but 
amply  provided  before  their  departure  with  dresses,  and  all  that 


12 


was  necessary  for  effective  dramatic  representation,  was  some- 
thing too  formidable  to  contend  against.  They  seem,  therefore, 
to  have  entirely  supplanted  the  earlier  pioneers,  of  whom  nothing 
further  is  known  except  that  some  of  their  number,  Murray, 
Tremaine,  Scott  and  Miss  Osborne,  played  in  Hallam's  company 
afterwards,  when  it  was  under  the  management  of  Douglass. 

After  performing  in  New  York  for  the  winter,  Hallam  went 
with  his  company  to  Philadelphia  in  April,  1751,  and  from  there 
to  the  West  Indies,  where  he  died.  In  1758,  the  company  re- 
turned to  New  York,  under  the  management  of  Douglass,  who 
had  married  Hallam's  widow.  During  the  four  years  that  they 
had  been  absent  the  theatre  remained  unocupied,  and  a  short 
time  before  their  arrival  a  cono;reo;ation  of  German  Calvinists 
had  been  formed,  and  being  in  want  of  a  place  of  worship 
they  purchased  the  theatre  for  §1,250,  and  fitted  it  up  as  a 
church,  which  they  continued  to  occupy  until  1765,  when  the 
building,  which  had  not  been  a  very  substantial  one,  becom- 
ing decayed,  they  took  it  down  and  erected  another  edifice  upon 
the  syjot,  which  was  standing  fifteen  years  ago,  and  was  famil- 
iarly known  as  Gosling's  Eating  House,  Nos.  61  and  66  Nassau 
street. 

Finding  that  the  theatre  had  been  converted  into  a  church, 
Douglass  built  another  one  upon  Cruger's  Wharf,  a  large  pier, 
with  houses  upon  it,  which  at  that  time  extended  from  Pearl 
street  into  the  East  River,  between  Old  and  Coenties  slip.  In 
the  following  year,  1759,  Douglass  went  to  Philadelphia,  where 
he  erected  a  small  theatre,  and  from  there  to  Annapolis,  where 
he  built  a  very  fine  one  of  brick,  capable  of  accommodating  be- 
tween five  and  six  hundred  people,  which  he  opened  on  the  3d 
of  March,  1760. 

THE  BEEKMAN  STREET  THEATRE. 

In  1761,  Douglass  returned  to  New  York,  and  abandoning  the 
theatre  upon  Cruger's  Wharf,  erected  one  in  Beekman  street,  a 
few  doors  beloAV  Nassau  street.  This  was  torn  down  in  a  riot  in 
1761.  Three  years  after,  the  theatre  in  John  street,  between 
Nassau  street  and  Broadway,  was  built,  which  continued  to  be 
the  principal  one  until  the  erection  of  the  old  Park  theatre,  in 
1797. 


